News - Hospitality Net

July 20

Hotel CIOs and PMS CEOs Split on Cost Versus Guest Experience, Wholesale Channels Quietly Reroute Your Rooms

Monday leads with a first for the industry. In a closed-door HITEC session under Chatham House Rule, CIOs from Radisson, citizenM and Mandarin Oriental sat with the CEOs of Oracle, Mews and Shiji, exposing one gap: hotel groups optimise for cost while PMS vendors build for guest experience. Wholesale channels are quietly reselling rooms and stripping guest data, and Marriott bought Lefay for its wellness method.

Hospitality Net

Press Release Development

July 20

Holiday Inn Signs 24 New Hotels in Greater China, Expanding Portfolio and Growth Opportunities

IHG signed 24 new Holiday Inn hotels across Greater China at a Beijing owner forum, bringing the brand's regional pipeline to 106 hotels alongside 168 already open.

IHG

China

HN Original

Interview Technology

July 20

Cloudbeds' Josh Graham on why AI finally favors the independent hotel

We didn't go to HITEC 2026 for the demos. We went for the conversations. We sat down with exhibitors right there on the show floor. No script, no prepared questions, just one starting point: tell us what you do, in plain language. This is where it went with Josh Graham, Head of Market Development for North America at Cloudbeds.

Josh Graham in conversation with Hospitality Net

Press Release Sales & Marketing

July 20

Plane Rude: Loud Media, Smelly Food and TikTok Filming Top Passengers’ Cabin Gripes

Booking.com survey of 1,000 UK adults finds 67% behave on planes as they do at home, with loud media, smelly food, and TikTok filming topping the list of cabin irritants.

Booking.com

United Kingdom

Report Markets & Performance

July 20

Beyond the Weekend: Marble Falls’ Lodging Market Evolves

HVS analysis of Marble Falls, TX finds 208 new hotel rooms and 7,000+ sq ft of meeting space coming in 2026, positioning the Hill Country market to capture group and extended-stay demand beyond its weekend leisure base.

By Bunmi Oyinloye, Senior Vice President, Leader - Houston Office, Houston, HVS

Marble Falls, United States

Press Release Food & Beverage

July 20

Supper is Served: Issue 49 Out Now

Issue 49 covers chef interviews with Luke Nguyen, Angela Hartnett, and Michael White, restaurant reviews across Madrid, London, and Cape Town, plus a dedicated F&B design studio launch.

Sleeper Media

Opinion Article Development

July 20

Hospitality investment: making your joint venture with an international operator a success

A practical guide for hotel owners approached by international operators, covering JV structuring, governance, financing, management agreements, and exit planning.

By Christopher Boinet and Anne Epinat

France

Ad Guide

The next-gen metrics that move hotel P&L

Hotel tech has changed what's possible – and measurable. RevPAR and ADR aren't enough; discover the metrics that really matter.

Mews

Ad AI Hospitality

Ernest - Lighthouse's AI for hoteliers

"Just tell me why my weekend pickup dropped." With Ernest, now you can ask your commercial data anything, and act on the answer.

Lighthouse

Press Release Technology

July 20

AI Hospitality Alliance Launches Eight Workstream Committees to Advance Industry Roadmap

The AIHA launched eight expert committees covering AI architecture, governance, data standards, and agentic protocols, with outputs published as open-source resources for the hospitality industry.

AIHA

Opinion Article Sales & Marketing

July 20

The room's the same. You wouldn't recognize who's buying it now

Wholesale contracts now route hotel rooms through bank rewards portals and airline loyalty sites, stripping hotels of guest data, direct relationships, and future bookings while the rate discount remains.

By Markus Busch, Editor/Publisher, hospitality.today

Press Release Markets & Performance

July 20

U.S. hotel results for week ending 11 July

U.S. hotel RevPAR rose 5.2% year-over-year for the week of 5-11 July 2026, with Miami leading Top 25 Markets on World Cup-driven ADR gains of 37.6%.

CoStar

United States

Opinion Article Operations & Strategy

July 20

What ADR Doesn't Tell You

Hotels track ADR and RevPAR precisely but have no equivalent instrument for the true operational cost of delivering each stay, leaving labor, coordination, and unplanned effort invisible in the financials.

By Hideki Hayashi, Founder, Pulse Hospitality Group

Opinion Article Sales & Marketing

July 20

AI Is Now Writing Your Hotel's Reputation. Here Is How to Make Sure It Gets It Right.

AI assistants now synthesize reviews and web content into hotel summaries that travelers see before visiting any owned channel, reshaping how first impressions are formed.

By Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach for Hotels, Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach

Opinion Article Sales & Marketing

July 20

Rethinking Distribution in The Age of Data and Direct Relationships

A Club Quarters executive argues hotels should treat distribution as a strategic ecosystem, prioritizing data connectivity, direct booking conversion, and guest lifetime value over raw channel volume.

By John Paul Nichols, President and CEO of Club Quarters Hotels, Club Quarters

Opinion Article Finance

July 20

The Psychology of Revenue Leakage: Why Your Guests Want to Spend More And Why Your Hotel Won't Let Them

A hospitality consultant argues that most hotels lose ancillary revenue not from product gaps, but from poor language framing, mistimed offerings, and invisible services that prevent willing guests from spending.

By Julia Krebs, Senior Lecturer and Hospitality Consultant, Les Roches-Marbella

Opinion Article Wellness & Wellbeing

July 20

Marriott’s Lefay Acquisition Signals a Future of Wellness Cobranding

Marriott's acquisition of Lefay Resorts is less about net unit growth and more about owning the Lefay SPA Method as a scalable wellness playbook for repositioning existing luxury properties.

By Adam Mogelonsky and Larry Mogelonsky

Italy

Ad AI Hospitality

Ernest - Lighthouse's AI for hoteliers

"Just tell me why my weekend pickup dropped." With Ernest, now you can ask your commercial data anything, and act on the answer.

Lighthouse

Opinion Article Development

July 17

HVS Webinar: How Will Hotel Operating Models Evolve and Change?

Senior leaders from HVS, Hyatt, LR Hotels, Westmont, and Aareal Bank discuss how hotel operating models must blend flexible contract structures, AI-driven distribution, and human-centred experiences to succeed by 2030.

By Joe Pettigrew, Russell Kett, Guy Pasley-Tyler, Chris Sheppardson, Ronen Nissenbaum, Bettina Graef-Parker, and Guido Fredrich

HN Brief

Editorial Article

July 17

Hotel Connectivity Is Now the Entry Condition for AI Distribution, Simone Puorto Says Hotels Don't Need More Software, Spain Eclipse Bookings Up 76%

Friday closed the week with hospitality.today's argument that hotel connectivity has stopped being neutral infrastructure and become the entry condition for AI-driven distribution, Simone Puorto on the Cloudbeds podcast arguing the hotel industry is drowning in software it doesn't need, and SiteMinder data showing Spain hotel bookings up 76% ahead of August's total solar eclipse. Duetto on RevPAR as a vanity metric, Faraway Hotels debuting in two markets at once, and a bumper properties day closed the session.

Hospitality Net

Opinion Article Food & Beverage

July 17

10 signs your hotel needs F&B mobile ordering now - and the solutions to fix them

IRIS outlines 10 operational and revenue warning signs that indicate a hotel's F&B setup needs mobile ordering, from order errors and slow service to multi-property brand inconsistency.

By Kate Fuller, Head of Marketing, IRIS

Opinion Article Finance

July 17

The Financial Blind Spot in Vacation Rental Management

A vacation rental operator argues the industry lacks a unified financial standard, proposing an "Owner-Adjusted Performance Report" that consolidates both management company and property owner costs into a single net return view.

By Vinicius Da Luz Souza

United States

Podcast Technology

July 17

Simone Puorto: The hotel industry does not need more software

Hospitality futurist Simone Puorto argues hotels suffer from tech overload and should prioritize fewer, better-connected systems over adding more software layers.

Linda Pashaj, Director of Content Marketing, Cloudbeds

Markets & Performance Yesterday

Guest Experience Benchmark Report Q2 2026 Overview

Global GRI hit a record 87.3% in Q2 2026, with 3-star hotels improving fastest, Asia leading regionally, and review response speed emerging as a core reputation driver.

Shiji

Sales & Marketing 2 days ago

Hotel social moves into the boardroom: Hospitality Social Media Summit brings a two-day commercial programme to London this September

A two-day executive programme at Chicago Booth London on 3-4 September 2026, focused on building commercial social media strategies, frameworks, and assets for hospitality brands.

Kordie

Wellness & Wellbeing 2 days ago

Star-bathing: Finding Wellness Under the Night Sky

Booking.com data shows 62% of travelers consider dark-sky destinations, with star-bathing topping planned activities, creating a niche wellness opportunity for resorts and eco-lodges.